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Thursday, 21 May 2015

#MustRead: Buhari And The Coming Penny-Pinching Era - by Eric Teniola

It
was President Shehu Shagari who first introduced the idea of having
Ministers of State in a presidential system of government. He could be
excused for the introduction, for he was a graduate of the First
Republic when junior ministers were allowed during the parliamentary
system.

Section 135 subsection 2 of the 1979 Constitution
made provisions for nomination of ministers and not ministers of state.
Since President Shagari made that initial mistake, every elected
president in Nigeria had followed suit.

Two days later
at the Senate confirmation of the ministers at the committee stage,
Senators Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya, Jonathan Odebiyi, Emmanuel Kayode
Ogunleye, David Olatunbosun Oke, Emeka Patrick Echeruo, Jaja Anucha
Wachukwu, Obi Wali, Emmanuel Idahosa Akpata, Stephen Adebanji Akintoye
and Senator F.O.M. Atake rejected the idea of junior ministers but
because the National Party of Nigeria were in the majority at that time,
President Shagari had his way.

Both President Umaru Yar’dua and outgoing
President Goodluck Jonathan have since maintained the culture of
appointing ministers of state.

However, one of the major tasks
before the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, now is the compilation of
his list of ministers. Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution as amended
dictates that he must have 36 ministers from the 36 states but the
section does not dictate that he should have ministers of states.